Thursday, 15 December 2011

Of Jungles And Suburbs

Read: Acts 1:1-8
You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem... and to the end of the earth. - Acts 1:8

Writing in Outreach, a publication of the Oriental Missionary Society, Richard D. Wood raised a thought-provoking question about our motives in supporting missions. He said tourists often came back from Haiti and say, "God broke my heart for missions in Haiti." but he wondered whether they were moved more by physical poverty than by their spiritual poverty. Was the lack of bread uppermost in their minds rather than the need for the Bread of Life - the Word and Son of God?

Mr. Wood recognized that showing us people's extreme physical need may be God's way of waking us up. But he wondered if those same people would ever cry, "God broke my heart in the suburbs." Would the sight of well-manicured lawns, expensive houses, and well-dressed people evoke that kind of response? The gospel is for the suburbanite as well as the slum-dweller. The character of God and the spiritual need of humanity-not our feelings and thoughts-provide the right motive for missions.

Everyone, regardless of poverty or affluence, need the gospel. So each of us must reach out with the message of God's redeeming grace to men and women everywhere-in the jungles, but also in the suburbs. - Richard De Haan

Precious souls are in our keeping,
God requires them at our hand;
ask yourself, dear fellow Christian,
"Am I doing all I can?" - Anon.





Everyone Outside Of Christ Is A Mission Field;
Everyone In Christ Should Be A Missionary.

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